“It is so much easier to sit in things and wait for something to save us.”
Wooooo, Phoebe. You just said a mouthful, sister.
That pretty much sums up my generation’s current modus operandi — ill-prepared to tackle any of today’s societal freakouts because we’ve spent the entirety of our lives cos-playing disaffection, just sitting back and waiting.
Thankfully, for Phoebe in Alison Espach’s “The Wedding People,” it’s only her life she has to sort out.
An adjunct professor of 19th century literature and cursed with writer’s block, Phoebe escapes her extremely awkward personal and professional existence alongside her ex-husband and former best friend who decided to shack up during the pandemic with a single-minded excursion to a fancy Rhode Island hotel.
Checking in without so much as a toothbrush, she finds herself surrounded by a large wedding party and a Bridezilla of sorts that thought she had the entire place to themselves. A chance encounter with the bride sets off a series of events that propels Phoebe on a weeklong adventure that redefines who she is and what she wants to be.
“The Wedding People” is a slow burn kind of novel in that, while on the surface humorous and heartbreaking, actually has much more to say about the human condition than it appears at first glance. There’s pretty much someone for everyone to relate to in the cast of characters. In addition to the maligned and lovelorn Phoebe, there’s:
- Lila, the 28-year-old bride-to-be who’s still recovering from the untimely loss of her father;
- Gary, the 40-year-old groom who’s still recovering from the untimely loss of his wife, Wendy;
- Juice, Gary and Wendy’s 11-year-old daughter;
- Jim; Gary’s ex-brother-in-law and very close friend;
- Marla, Gary’s uptight sister;
- Patricia, Lila’s narcissistic mother;
- Nat and Suz, Lila’s boarding school buddies now performing bridesmaid duties;
- And of course, Pauline and Carlson and the rest of the crew at the hotel who honestly in my mind I am picturing as extras on “The White Lotus.”
As I just mentioned, what initially feels like a rom-com starts to cut deep, pretty quickly. Because a wedding is really about a marriage and the reality of that becomes as apparent as it ever will in those final days leading up to a walk down the aisle. How does the saying go? “It’s all fun and games until somebody shoots an eye out?” Well, wedding planning feels like a party until dinner courses are running late and your vintage rental car is replaced with a plain old Uber.
The audcacity!
It can often be in those lowest moments in our lives — death, divorce, fertility issues, etc. — that we find our resilience, for sure. But even the smallest of tragedies can turn into a-ha moments if you let them, and in Phoebe’s case, bearing witness to Lila and Gary’s almost dreamlike passage through their wedding week is an opportunity to reflect on what the future might and can hold for her if she opens herself up and finally lets go.
“The Wedding People” is a great read, fairly fast-paced and supposedly is optioned for movie or television adaptation down the road, so you may as well read it now before you are watching Pedro Pascal bring his daddy vibes to the role of Gary. (A girl can dream …)
Need a book suggestion? You can catch all my reviews here.
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